question about selvages

I was wondering if you trim all your selvages before you start cutting or not? I have always just cut mine with each strip, but wondered if there is a right or wrong way and if it makes any difference.

I always wash my fabric first thus the selvage ofen pulls the fabric wonky and it is very difficult to get it to hang straight. I'm a firm believer in squaring it up and I tear verticaly just inside the selvage, then I have a true straight of grain. I don't tear fabric horizontaly (WOF)This is how I avoid that dreaded V when cutting folded strips.

I was wondering if you trim all your selvages before you start cutting or not? I have always just cut mine with each strip, but wondered if there is a right or wrong way and if it makes any difference.

Jill

I didn't cut them off all at once until I started saving them, Jill. My early selvages are pretty much all shorter than 13". Now I have a few that are 90-105" long.

Now I actually plan ahead a bit - and I do cut it off, leaving ½" above the white of the selvage. I've seen a number of projects with just the white and its writing and dots, but I like having the choice of showing a quarter inch or so of the actual fabric if I want to.

I vary. I dislike wonkiness, but also dislike loose threads, I sometimes tear, but more often cut them off if they distort the fabric, otherwise leave them until I am working with that particular piece.

Jill, I am big on saving the selvages and now that I have made a quilt from them and other small projects, I want to save them all ... so I cut them off first leaving about a 1/2" of fabric on them so I when I sew I see some of the fabric... makes for a more colorful project.